1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission indicator for a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to a transmission indicator, a character part of which can be illuminated.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, Transmission indicator of a vehicle is a means for displaying the location of an automatic transmission lever, and is provided at one side of an area where the automatic transmission lever slides.
The automatic transmission lever slides into park (P), reverse (R), neutral (N), and drive (D) positions as its gear is being shifted. The location of the transmission lever is displayed with illumination on the character part of the Transmission indicator to allow a driver to visually know the location of the transmission lever.
A typical Transmission indicator needs a plurality of light sources, for example, about four to about six light sources, each of which is arranged under each character upon illumination of the character part of the Transmission indicator.
In order to overcome the above limitation, the illumination of the character part is being implemented by a single light source using a lighting guide plate and a method of printing a pattern on the rear surface of the lighting guide plate
For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a typical Transmission indicator includes a lens 100 that is printed with P, R, N, D characters, emits night illumination, and displays the location of a TGS lever, a lighting guide plate 110 for illumination of the Transmission character part, a light source 120 for illumination of the lighting guide plate, a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) 130, a housing installed with the PCB 150 and the lens 100 and having an illumination shielding structure, a PCB 150, and a lower cover 160 for protecting the PCB 150.
In this case, since a separate PCB 130 for illumination of the lighting guide plate is needed to use the lighting guide plate in the above structure, the manufacturing cost may increase.
There are the following limitations in a technology of implementing the illumination of the Transmission character part using a typical lighting guide plate.
Due to limitations of the thickness of the lighting guide plate and the size of a light source chip, since illumination for the lighting guide plate cannot be configured in the transmission gear-controlling PCB 150, a light source for illumination of the lighting guide plate and a PCB 130 assembly are additionally needed to apply a light shielding structure to the character part.
Also, the lighting guide plate and the light source for illumination of the lighting guide plate are configured at the opposite side to the PCB 150 to interrupt the illumination of the light source, and a fixing structure for fixing the light source for the illumination of the lighting guide plate and the PCB 130 is additionally needed to adjust the position of the lighting guide plate and the light source for the illumination of the lighting guide plate. Accordingly, the whole structure becomes complicated.
As a result, there is a limitation in that the manufacturing cost increases due to the addition of a light source for a lighting guide plate, a PCB assembly, and a wiring.
FIG. 2 shows a limitation when a light source is applied to a transmission gear-controlling PCB.
In order to uniformly deliver light to a lighting guide plate 110, a light emitting part 170 of a light source 120 needs to be aligned with the center portion of the lighting guide plate 110. However, in a typical technology, the light emitting part 170 of the light source 120 cannot be aligned with the center portion of the lighting guide plate 110 due to the thickness of the lighting guide plate 110 and the light shielding structure.
Here, a reference numeral 180 unexplained shows a light-shielding plate that is disposed inside a housing 140 to interrupt light.
Accordingly, since the light source 120 for illumination of the lighting guide plate and the PCB 130 are additionally needed, the manufacturing cost increases.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.